by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

We want our sports stars to stay in one place, wear one uniform, and forever be loyal to their team until they retire.

We want everyone to be Derek Jeter.

So when Jacoby Ellsbury steps to the plate Thursday night, wearing a New York Yankees uniform while beating his old team, the Boston Red Sox, 4-1, and a fan screams out, "Traitor, you traitor!,'' we get it.

Ellsbury, who spent more than one third of his life in the Red Sox organization, winning two World Series, doesn't apologize for accepting $153 million from the Yankees this winter.

If the Red Sox offered him the same, he would have stayed.

Yet, it's a different world we live in now.

"The fans in places like Boston and New York and Philly,'' Red Sox outfielder Shane Victorino says, "they're diehards. They want their favorite guys to stay in uniform and never go to the other side. Fans grow up in a rivalry and hate the other team.

"Look, the fans are always going to think about it just one way. The reporters are going to think about it one way. But, as players, we look at it as a business. How can you fault the guy?''

Ellsbury, who will receive his 2013 World Series ring from Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington and manager John Farrell in a private ceremony today, realizes it's awkward. It felt strange seeing his buddies across the dugout Thursday night. It will be even more weird when the Yankees go to Boston on April 22, playing as a visitor for the first time at Fenway Park.

He already knows what to expect. Johnny Damon, who went from the Red Sox to the Yankees after helping win the 2004 World Series, was viciously booed during his four years with the Yankees. Wade Boggs, who went to the Hall of Fame as a representative of the Red Sox, was booed. Surely, Ellsbury will receive the same treatment.

There will be grudges. There always are in rivalries. The Red Sox, still livid over the image of Boggs riding a police horse in the aftermath of the Yankees' 1996 World Series championship, still haven't retired his number. They wasted no time giving away Ellsbury's number, No. 2, to shortstop Xander Bogaerts this spring.

And yet, no one has worn Roger Clemens' number since leaving the Red Sox in 1996 - despite spending six years with the Yankees.

Ellsbury, who said he hasn't worn his 2007 World Series ring since joining the Yankees, certainly has no hard feelings. He didn't feel slighted when the Red Sox didn't make a stronger attempt to keep him. Matter of fact, he actually had the Yankees in mind as he approached free agency.

"I always thought it was a decent possibility,'' said Ellsbury, who's hitting .361 after going one for three with an RBI Thursday. "I think of the Yankees as a top-flight organization, world class. I think of the championships, the history, the great players who play here.

"Winning is the most important thing, and that was one of the biggest reasons I signed over here was a chance to win a championship, and a chance to get to the playoffs each and every year.''

Considering the Yankees didn't make the playoffs last year while the Red Sox were winning their third World Series title in 10 years, money might have played a factor.

"He can wear pinstripes until he day the retires,'' Red Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes told USA TODAY Sports, "but that Red Sox logo on those rings don't switch because he left. He has two Red Sox rings that he can wear proudly.''

Jeter, one of only 19 major-league players who have spent at least 20 years with one franchise, can't blame anyone for switching teams in this day and age. There are three players on his own team that were with the Red Sox last year.

So could Jeter have ever pictured himself in a Red Sox uniform at any point in his 20-year career?

"No,'' Jeter told USA TODAY Sports. "But I don't think you can use me as an example. This is the only place I ever wanted to play.

"I think it was a big deal when Boggs did it. And Clemens. And even Johnny. But there are so many people switching uniforms now, I don't think it's as big of deal now.''

Certainly, David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia look like Red Sox for life. Yet, when you see Albert Pujols going from St. Louis to the Los Angeles Angels, and Robinson Cano fleeing New York for Seattle, anything is possible.

"The days of Barry Larkin and Cal Ripken staying with one team,'' Gomes says, "are over. I think it's awesome that Jeter and (Pedroia) are staying in one uniform, but starting and finishing your career in one place is so rare.''

Before the next Ellsbury or Cano is blamed for greed or disloyalty, Victorino says, try putting yourself in the same situation.

"If you've got a job and you get an offer from a rival company that doubles the price,'' Victorino says, "giving you the opportunity to better your family, what are you going to do?

"It's no different than for us.''

So pardon Ellsbury for being quite content wearing Yankee pinstripes, forever grateful for his nine professional seasons with the Red Sox, and hoping one day that Red Sox Nation will understand.

Maybe even forgive.

"If, as a young kid, you were to tell me I played for the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees,'' Ellsbury says, "I'd say that's pretty special.''

The folks in Boston may have a slightly different interpretation, but they'll express their own views in a couple of weeks.â??